RYANAIR'S racy calendar featuring stewardesses in bikinis has been banned by a Spanish judge for being sexist.

Judge Amanda Cohen, sitting at the Commercial Court in Malaga, ordered the low-cost airline to drop its annual Girls of Ryanair campaign following a formal complaint from Adecua, a consumers' group.

The calendar shows female cabin crew in skimpy beach wear and has been running since 2008. The company has raised over €700,000 for charity through sales.

Judge Cohen described the calendar as "illegal, discriminatory and unfair."

She ruled that the calendar and the web campaign to promote it both break advertising laws in Spain. Ryanair will be allowed to appeal the ruling.

Spanish newspapers reported that the ruling banned future use of such campaigns in Spain.

But Ryanair said in a statement, "This case and ruling only relates to specific adverts run in November and December 2012 and has no effect on Ryanair's continuing charity work or our current 2014 cabin crew charity calendar."